Skull Session: The 11W Forum Is Where It’s At, Ohio State Can't “Have a Bad Day” and Marvin Harrison Jr. Leads a Heisman Straw Poll

Welcome to the Skull Session.

Ohio State is No. 1 in the first CFP rankings of 2023. pic.twitter.com/leW8SYsYqX
— Eleven Warriors (@11W) October 31, 2023

I'm juiced.

Let's have a good Wednesday, shall we?

YOU ALL SHOULD BE JOURNALISTS. ESPN's Adam Rittenberg and Pete Thamel will receive credit for their report that Central Michigan has launched an investigation into a possible appearance from Connor Stalions on the Chippewas' sideline for their season opener at Michigan State.

However, the Eleven Warriors Forum had it first.

A RCHIVE DATA... OCT. 30, 2023... ELEVEN WARRIORS FORUMS...

SILVERSTATE: This [Central Michigan] dude is looking shady. Signature laminated white play sheet and then next to someone with a headset [PHOTOS ATTACHED]

SILVER BULLETS 22: Lol, my lord, this would be the funniest s— ever. Stallions dressed in CMU gear helping them beat MSU with his binder full of MSU play calls. Golden...

KENTCLARK: Sunglasses? Wasn't this a night game?

SILVERSTATE: Yeah, the sunglasses stuck out to me, too.

BUCKEYE3M: Manifesto? Sunglasses? *inserts sketch of the Unibomber* That's pure Michigan.

JM: The "Unifilmer"

BUCKEYEGOSPEL: Central Michigan played MSU on a Friday on Sept. 1 – hmmmm

KNARCISI: SilverState breaks it!

To SilverState and Co., I offer an Eleven Warriors Badge of Honor.

You completed some Big J Journalism.

Kudos.

"NOT ALLOWED TO HAVE A BAD DAY." In Ryan Day's press conference on Tuesday, Rob Oller of The Columbus Dispatch asked the Ohio State head coach to assess Kyle McCord's performance vs. Wisconsin.

"He had some really good snaps," Day said. "If you were grading whatever number of plays, there were a lot of pluses there. The thing that's hard about a quarterback is that one play can ruin your day. Some critical errors in there hurt us, and he knows that – nobody's more critical of himself than he is – but there were a lot of good things out there as well. We need to eliminate what can hurt the team, and the turnovers are a big part of that."

Oller's follow-up question included a golf analogy. He asked Day if McCord and the Buckeyes are allowed to have "a bad day" and "not be feeling it," similar to the performance of amateurs and professionals in golf.

"No," Day said. "You're not allowed to have a bad day at Ohio State. Any of us. That's the way it goes. On your bad days, you have to be at least average – at the very least – if not better than that. On you're average days, you have to be good. On your good days, you have to be great."

Day later compared golf and the quarterback position (a comparison that was quite good), but those five or six sentences stood out to me, and I want to comment on them.

Each season, the college football world places enormous pressure on Ohio State to perform. And, of course, the Buckeyes feel that pressure, including Day, his coaching staff and his players.

Still, Ohio State performs at a championship level year in and year out because the program holds itself to an incredible standard – one where "you're not allowed to have a bad day," coaches and players included. The average days need to be good; the good days need to be great, and so on.

As other "elite" Power Five programs ebb and flow (see: Clemson), Ohio State remains atop the food chain. Therefore, we should never take Ohio State's standard or the Buckeyes' consistent excellence for granted.

THE HEISMAN FRONTRUNNER? There's a new leader atop The Athletic's Heisman Trophy straw poll. His name is Marvin Harrison Jr.

Yes, that's correct.

Ohio State's star receiver, also known as Marvelous Marv, Super Marv, Route Man Marv and Maserati Marv, was selected as the Heisman frontrunner among The Athletic's college football staff. Harrison surged past Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. to take hold of the No. 1 overall spot in the poll.

PLAYERS	TEAM	POS	1ST	2ND	3RD	PTS	LAST WEEK
Marvin Harrison	Ohio State	WR	15	7	3	62	2nd
Michael Penix Jr.	Washington	QB	7	10	9	50	1st
Bo Nix	Oregon	QB	5	6	8	35	5th
Jayden Daniels	LSU	QB	4	6	2	26	3rd
J.J. McCarthy	Michigan	QB	2	1	6	14	5th
Jordan Travis	Florida State	QB	0	2	2	6	7th
Ollie Gordon II	Oklahoma State	RB	0	1	2	4	NR
Luther Burden	Missouri	WR	0	0	1	1	7th

From The Athletic's Manny Navarro:

Ohio State’s Marvin Harrison Jr. surged past Washington’s Michael Penix Jr. — who is still the betting favorite to win the award, according to oddsmakers at BetMGM — after he hauled in six passes for 123 yards and two touchdowns in the Buckeyes’ 24-10 win over Wisconsin on Saturday night.

Harrison, the top draft-eligible receiver in the country, ranks sixth nationally in receiving yards (889) and his average of 18.5 yards per catch is tops among all players with at least 40 receptions. He received 15 of the 33 available first-place votes from writers and editors this week.

Harrison appeared on only one ballot two weeks ago when Penix overtook reigning Heisman winner Caleb Williams for the top spot following an impressive win in a top-10 matchup versus Oregon. Harrison moved up to second place last week.

Penix ranks sixth nationally in quarterback rating with an FBS-leading 2,945 passing yards, 24 touchdowns and six interceptions. He completed a season-low 55.3 percent of his passes for 369 yards, four touchdowns and one interception in a 42-33 win at Stanford (2-6) over the weekend. He will have plenty of opportunities to impress voters over the final month of the season. His fifth-ranked Huskies (8-0) play at No. 24 USC, host No. 18 Utah and play at No. 16 Oregon State over the next three weeks.

Harrison’s third-ranked Buckeyes (8-0) have only one ranked opponent left on the schedule: a trip to No. 2 Michigan on the final weekend in November.

I called Harrison THE best player in college football on Monday.

I'll call him THE best player in college football on Wednesday.

And I'll call him THE best player in college football on Dec. 9, when Harrison is one of a handful of players seated in the front row at the Lincoln Center in New York City. Hopefully, we can see him walk up those steps and accept that award, making Buckeye Nation proud in the process.

GREAT POINT. On Tuesday, the Washington Commanders traded defensive end Chase Young to the San Francisco 49ers, where Young will reunite with his Ohio State teammate Nick Bosa in the NFC West.

REUNITED, AND IT FEELS SO GOOD. https://t.co/HHVegKgvYj pic.twitter.com/BN8S5bOlEv
— Eleven Warriors (@11W) October 31, 2023

Ohio State fans were super excited about the move.

However, it also reminded fans of a heartbreaking reality: We never witnessed a complete season with Bosa and Young coming off the edge, as the former tore a core muscle in the Buckeyes' Week 3 win over TCU in 2018.

Pain.

Sometimes I wonder, even if Bosa remained healthy all season in 2018, would it have made a difference? After all, Alex Grinch was Ohio State's co-defensive coordinator at the time, a fact Zach Feldman reminded me of on Tuesday. We have all seen what Grinch has done for a program like USC – it's not great!

Remember when we had 2.5 game of Nick Bosa, Chase Young, Dre'Mont Jones, Baron Browning, Jonathon Cooper, Malik Harrison, Pete Woerner, Jordan Fuller, and Damon Arnette all in the starting lineup to start 2018 but it didn't matter b/c Alex Grinch was the Co-DC https://t.co/vyJMicGN0W
— Zach Feldman (@ZachFeldman3) October 31, 2023

But, like Tim May, I digress.

The Predator and the 2022 NFL Defensive Player of the Year are on the same defensive line. That will horrify head coaches and offensive coordinators around the NFL. But it will also do wonders for Ohio State's #DevelopedHere profile. How great!

SONG OF THE DAY. "Blu" - Jon Bellion.